


Cut In

by thingswithwings



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Dancing, M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 03:03:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15500901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/pseuds/thingswithwings
Summary: The prompt from ghost_lingering was: more of Magnus Bane dancing, perhaps with Isabelle, and then Alec cuts in at some point.





	Cut In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ghost_lingering](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghost_lingering/gifts).



> I was having trouble getting back into writing, so I threw open prompts at my DW journal and wrote fast and hard. These fics are all quick and unbetaed, with very little research done, as I was just trying to get some practice in and get back in the writing mode. Apologies for any continuity errors etc. Thanks to everyone who prompted and encouraged me! And apologies to subscribers, who are now getting spammed as I repost them to AO3. 
> 
> Original prompt post here: https://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/226811.html

Alec knew Magnus would be there, of course. It's an official Institute function and it would've been rude not to invite their Downworlder allies. It would've been equally rude for their Downworlder allies to decline. But Alec still wasn't ready for the sight of him, laughing and gorgeous in a formal tuxedo—more sparkly than most—and an indigo half-cape. He looks like a prince from a fairy tale.

He finds Alec immediately, the way he always seems to do in a crowded room. It's gratifying, because Alec still doesn't really understand what Magnus sees in him, and every time Magnus seeks out his company it makes the anxious voice at the back of Alec's head quiet down a little. 

"You look lovely," Magnus says, giving him the once over, and Alec smiles, pleased. 

"You too," he says, grateful that he doesn't have to find his own adjective. 

Magnus is standing close, but didn't greet him with a kiss; after a moment, Alec realizes that Magnus is waiting for him to lead. Alec's whole family is here, and everyone he commands, and some bigwigs from Idris, but they already know, and Alec doesn't think he could bear to let Magnus think he's ashamed of him.

Taking Magnus's hand, he leans down and kisses him quickly on the cheek. Magnus returns the gesture.

"Would you care to dance?" Magnus asks.

"Oh, I—don't dance," Alec says. 

"Really?" I would've thought that your family would insist on you learning the courtly skills."

"Oh, I learned, but . . . I don't." A kiss is one thing, a relationship is one thing, but dancing in a room like this is different, is about a show you make for society. Alec remembers his mother drilling it into him from a very young age, him and Izzy both: that dancing is about politics, about showing the honor of your family, about playing the game. 

He doesn't know if he could bear to bring Magnus into that world so visibly, to make the statement that their dancing would make.

"Very well," Magnus sighs. "Will you be terribly jealous if I dance with someone else? It's such a pity to let an occasion like this go to waste."

Alec should've thought that Magnus would want to dance. Even just in the way he moves down a street, the way he wields his magic . . . Magnus, he's sure, will be beautiful on the dance floor. 

"I'd love to watch you," Alec manages, swallowing past a lump in his throat. 

"Oh ho. I'll remember that." The grin on Magnus's face makes Alec's face heat. 

Magnus ends up asking Izzy instead, which is a smart pick, in Alec's view. They're friends, and Magnus's connection to Alec makes them almost like brother and sister: an innocent pairing. He glances around, and can't see any malicious chatter or suggestive glances in the crowd as they take to the dance floor. 

Alec keeps an eye out, though, since it's both his boyfriend's and his sister's reputation on the line. 

Before the music begins, Magnus bows deeply over Isabelle's hand, kissing it; she curtsies, accepting his invitation. Alec certainly danced with Izzy enough times when they were kids, and knows that she won't be a disappointing partner for Magnus. They move into the dance effortlessly, Magnus holding her at a distance that somehow communicates both friendliness and a total lack of sexual interest. As their feet move together, through steps and spins, they chat, and Alec sees Magnus laugh at something Izzy's said, wrinkling up his nose.

The surprising thing is, Alec isn't jealous. Not in the way Magnus meant, anyway. He doesn't begrudge Magnus and Izzy their friendship or suspect him of cheating. He's glad about that. He's an adult, and he can watch his boyfriend dance with his sister, and it's fine.

In fact, Alec can even appreciate the fact that, in Magnus's arms, Izzy is far more graceful than she ever was dancing with Alec. As they get used to each other, they start to take more risks, both of them loose and easy in their movements, the spins and lifts getting more impressive as they go. Izzy's a fighter, and Magnus is tall with broad shoulders and strength to spare, and together they're able to put on quite a show. After a couple of minutes, it seems that they can communicate with each other with just a glance, trusting one another to catch or hold them. 

Alec keeps monitoring the crowd, and more heads are turning in their direction, but it's not gossipy or disapproving. People are impressed.

The song is a traditional one that Alec's heard a million times. He knows it backwards and forwards, and as the final section plays he realizes that he's been counting down to the end of the song. Before the instruments stop, he finds he's moving, already at Izzy's shoulder.

He joins the crowd in clapping for them, and both Magnus and Izzy flash him a smile of appreciation before bowing to the audience.

"You wanna cut in, big brother?" Izzy asks, pointedly. 

Alec opens his mouth; there's really no other reason for him to be here, on the dance floor.

"What, you're not sick of dancing with me at home?" 

Izzy rolls her eyes. "Magnus, thank you for the delightful dance."

"Anytime, my dear." They bow and curtsy again.

The first notes of the next song have begun, and as Izzy fades back into the crowd, Magnus and Alec are the only ones on the dance floor but not dancing.

Magnus is waiting, again, for him to lead. Willing himself not to fall over or vomit out of sheer nerves, Alec bows low over Magnus's hand and kisses it, once, in front of his mother and the Clave and the bigwigs and all his friends and everyone.

Instead of curtsying, Magnus offers him a polite bow in return, shallower than Alec's, and then comes forward into his arms. That makes it easier; Alec knows this, the feel of Magnus pressed close, the heat of his skin, the ozone-smell of magic that clings to him. 

"Should we move, or did you just want to embrace for five minutes solid in front of everyone you know? I'm fine with either option, for the record." 

Alec takes a breath, laughs softly as he lets it out.

Together, he and Magnus are nowhere near as graceful as Izzy and Magnus were. Much as he has the training, Alec meant what he said: he doesn't dance, he doesn't like dancing, and he doesn't feel comfortable doing it. He never felt comfortable doing it with women, and while being gay is, in retrospect, a good excuse for that, he doesn't feel comfortable now, either. His body moves in the prescribed steps, and Magnus follows where he leads, but he can't imagine that it looks particularly good to anyone else.

"Relax," Magnus says, lips against his ear. "You did it, you've already done it. It gets easier from here."

Slowly, Alec eases his way into the dance, and as he does he finds that Magnus is an incredible partner: responsive, quick, making up for the mistakes Alec keeps making as he leads. More than once, when Alec would've stepped on the toes of a less proficient partner, Magnus manages to move so that it looks intentional, like a fancy slide-step rather than Alec just being too nervous to put his feet where they're supposed to go. 

"This is fun, but I think I'm going to need to teach you some other kinds of dancing. I'm not sure the waltz suits you." Magnus's eyes are warm, engaging: Alec manages to focus on that, rather than on the people around the room, watching. 

"Yeah? What'd you have in mind?" 

"Something to loosen up those hips," Magnus says, hand sliding just a little too low down Alec's back before veering back up into safer territory. "Salsa. Tango. Disco. We'll work up to teaching you to vogue."

"Okay," Alec says, warming to the image of the two of them alone in Magnus's apartment, Magnus's hands on his hips, showing him where to move. He branches out a little, guiding Magnus through a couple of quick turns, and it's not even a disaster.

"There we go," Magnus laughs.

The end of the song comes up on him suddenly, and Alec wishes he'd thought to do a fancy spin or a dip, but instead he just holds still on the last step and lets Magnus's momentum carry him into Alec's personal space.

"Thank you for the dance, Mr Lightwood," Magnus says, formally, so close that Alec can feel his breath against his skin.

"Thank you, Mr Bane," Alec replies, and kisses his lips, softly, as the swell of the music fades around them.


End file.
